| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| Theocritus |
| | | Sir Edmund William Gosse (1849–1928) |
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| THE POPLARS and the ancient elms | |
| Make murmurous noises high in air; | |
| The noon-day sunlight overwhelms | |
| The brown cicalas basking there; | |
| But here the shade is deep, and sweet | 5 |
| With new-mown grass and lentisk-shoots, | |
| And far away the shepherds meet | |
| With noisy fifes and flutes. | |
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| Their clamor dies upon the ear; | |
| So now bring forth the rolls of song, | 10 |
| Mouth the rich cadences, nor fear | |
| Your voice may do the poet wrong; | |
| Lift up the chalice to our lips,— | |
| Yet see, before we venture thus, | |
| A stream of red libation drips | 15 |
| To great Theocritus. | |
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| We are in Sicily to-day; | |
| And, as the honeyed metre flows, | |
| Battos and Corydon, at play, | |
| Will lose the syrinx, gain the rose; | 20 |
| Soft Amaryllis, too, will bind | |
| Dark violets round her shining hair, | |
| And in the fountain laugh to find | |
| Her sun-browned face so fair. | |
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| We are in Sicily to-day; | 25 |
| Ah! foolish world, too sadly wise, | |
| Why didst thou e’er let fade away | |
| Those ancient, innocent ecstasies? | |
| Along the glens, in checkered flight, | |
| Hither to-day the nymphs shall flee, | 30 |
| And Pan forsake for our delight | |
| The tomb of Helice. | |
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